State pensions will rise by 3% next April, but it’s not all strictly good news. On the day that a CPI inflation rate of 3% was announced, the BBC website covering the rise had a picture of pensioners “dancing for joy”. The supposed reason for their jollity was that the 3% September inflation figure was […]
New figures from HMRC show a large jump in VCT investments in 2016/17. In September HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) issued updated statistics on the funds raised by venture capital trusts (VCTs). These showed that investment during last tax year reached £570m, an increase of over 28% on 2015/16. This was the highest […]
Statistics show that dividends from UK shares are still rising rapidly. The latest quarterly ‘UK Dividend Monitor’ from Capita Asset Services paints a rosy picture for income-seeking investors in UK shares. As Capita noted, “Companies are very cash-generative, which is strongly supporting dividend payments… The easy gains from the pound’s devaluation, where dividends declared in […]
Not all snap elections turn out the same way… A right of centre Prime Minister calls an election before the end of the government’s term to take advantage of rising poll numbers and seeming disarray amongst the opposition parties. What could possibly go wrong? In the UK, the answer was close to everything. Japan, as […]
The amount of inheritance tax (IHT) paid by bereaved families has broken the £5bn barrier for the first time. This is largely due to rising property values and the long freeze in the IHT threshold, and means that many more families are affected. IHT is charged at 40% on the portion of the deceased’s estate […]
The fraud involves being cold-called by someone purporting to be a bailiff working on behalf of a court, attempting to recover funds for a non-existent debt. Fraudsters are requesting payment by bank transfer and if refused they threaten to visit the people’s homes or place work in order to recover the debt that is owed. […]
